A Kushnier on city stage; this time it’s brother Bryce

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This article was published 18/03/2009 (6395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JEREMY Kushnier is a major musical theatre star who made the unlikely leap from Rainbow Stage to Broadway and is currently drawing raves for his performance as one of the Four Seasons in Jersey Boys.

His younger brother Bryce used to share the stage with Jeremy in Rainbow musicals but went his own way on a smaller stage as an indie musical artist.

It’s been a slow climb since borrowing his first guitar from teacher John Kula at John Henderson School and fronting a local band called The Fancy Few that traded in angsty teenage pop. Bryce retreated to his upstairs studio in his parents’ East Kildonan home, where he concentrated on his original "left field kind of music" before settling in Toronto as the stage act vitaminsforyou.

A pioneer of the lo-fi bedroom electronics genre, the just-turned 30-year-old returns home Friday in support of his third CD of DIY electronic pop called He Closed his Eyes… so He Could Dance With You with a performance at the Lo Pub, located in the Hi Downtowner Hostel at the corner of Kennedy at Ellice.

There is a buzz starting to grow around his work and collaborations with the likes of Emm Gryner. Bryce had a track on the 2009 Grammy-nominated album by Mexico’s biggest electronic export The Nortec Collective. The single The Ukrainians off his last album The Legend of Bird’s Hill won Song of the Year Qwartz Pro/Art Electronic Music Award.

"I’m doing what I love, working on my own music, getting recognition for my own music," says Bryce, during a recent telephone interview. "I’m happy where I am right now."

It is not surprising to learn of the existence of some sibling envy between the Kushnier brothers. What is astonishing is that it is Jeremy who admits to being jealous of Bryce’s solo music career.

"The life of the rock star is always something that I wanted," says Jeremy, who has released two of his own CDs between musical runs. "I am probably too old to spend any extended amount of time in a van with a band but I will not stop trying."

Bryce finds it a curious situation.

"In a sense, I’m pursuing his dream more than he is," Bryce, a University of Manitoba graduate, says with a laugh.

That doesn’t stop Jeremy from getting his brother’s name out there whenever possible.

"He’s kind of like a theatre mom," Bryce says. "He’s very supportive. He always makes sure he’s wearing one of my T-shirts when he does a photo shoot."

Bryce left Winnipeg seven years ago but took a little bit of the city with him, his stage moniker. A decade ago Bryce was invited to perform at a Campus Radio Association gig but was urged to come up with a band name. On the way home, driving down Arlington, he spied a store called Vitamins For You.

"I thought if it worked for that store, it’s got to work for me," says Bryce, who will appear here backed by a drummer and bass player. "It was straight to the point. I’ve been too lazy to think of anything else."

It’s took him a while to find his niche. Bryce was once enrolled in East Asian Studies at McGill University, where his thesis was on electronic music in postwar Japan. He had to abandon the program because he was not fluent in Japanese. Then he got his teaching degree at the University of Toronto, but remains a musician first and foremost.

Bryce has no regrets about not following his brother into musical theatre because he still gets to explore the theatrical side of his music.

"All things considered, being in a rock band is kind of like being in a musical," he says.

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

Concert preview

vitaminsforyou

Lo Pub

Friday at 8 p.m.